You don’t think libertarian + HOA guy is an explosive combo?
“They just couldn’t get along. I think it had very little to do with Democrat or Republican politics,” said Jim Skaggs, who developed the gated community and who lives nearby. “I think it was a neighbor-to-neighbor thing. They just both had strong opinions, and a little different ones about what property rights mean.”
Asked about long-leveled allegations that Mr. Paul had disregarded neighborhood regulations, Mr. Skaggs, who is also a former leader of the county Republican Party, said that the senator “certainly believes in stronger property rights than exist in America.”
Sure he does; a nice big ridem mower to speed across his acreage and physically manage his property shows that he’s the virtuous independent Ayn Rand follower that has earned and gets to keep everything he has.
It’s not a matter of property rights, he could have bought a house in a location without a HOA if he didn’t want to follow community rules. He chose to freely enter into a contract with the HOA. And then apparently broke the terms of the contract.
I want to believe it’s true, because then that makes it darkly humorous.
It’s still not okay, but I can laugh at the irony of a US senator getting his ass beat not for his horrific policies, but just because he’s a crappy neighbor in a control freak gated community.
No argument, my take is that there are 52 (?) Republican Senators, of which
at best 10 might vote against their party in a way I like now and then, and
he’s one of those 10. It’s not like he’d be replaced with a Sanders clone (yet).
Have you ever read Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ books? Besides being splendidly entertaining overall, there’s a thinly-veiled satire of Boris in them who really lets both his actual character and the author’s ardent dislike of the man shine through.
My point was that just because he voted against the current GOP leadership, doesn’t mean he doesn’t represent a real threat, ideologically. He’s the hardline. He’s worse than the establishment (as bad as they are now).
Uh. Bullshit. Sure, this is probably the sort of violence that society should not applaud, but there’s plenty of situations where violence should be applauded and attempts to avoid violence loudly decried.
For an extreme example, see World War 2. For a more common example, see people protecting their family from threats.
Like Ghandi said, violence is far preferable to inaction, and while being able to resolve your problem with non-violence might be preferable, violence itself is still preferable to acceptance of an unjust peace.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the leaders and powerbrokers in our country have decided the rule of law doesn’t apply to them. And Rand Paul is one the defenders of that state of things.
If they don’t want to be accountable to the law, they absolutely deserve to experience the consequences first hand. (oh, but of course the other guy is going to go to jail, only politicians are allowed to get away with assaulting and even murdering people on a whim.)
So what you’re saying is, to maximize the benefit of this event, we should celebrate the beating privately while talking about it in the way best able to achieve our desired political goals publicly - wallow in our enjoyment while publicly condemning.
Aside from whether or not his actions contributed to the dispute with the neighbor, I am amazed how many self-proclaimed libertarian / small government folks choose to join HOAs. If you’re in an HOA you don’t get to decide how to landscape your property, you don’t get to remodel or make additions to your home in non-approved ways, and in most cases you don’t even get to choose the COLOR that you paint your house. Even holiday decorations in your yard are often controlled. Plus you’re stuck paying a monthly fee forever, even after you pay off your house. Seems like the antithesis of everything that freedom-loving 'mericans would want.
I’m totally cool with paying my property taxes, but I would never, ever buy a home that’s part of a HOA.
Each to their own I suppose. But I would rather leave my home than kill a person. And I’m not wrong for believing this.
Other people would rather kill to keep what they view as theirs. We’re culturally conditioned to romanticize fighting for what is yours rather than running away.
(yet).
